The invention relates to a battery removal apparatus for a vehicle, in particular an electric industrial truck, which has a battery compartment having a lateral battery compartment opening and a battery compartment floor, with an exchange battery unit which is accommodated upright therein on the battery compartment floor and which is removed in a substantially horizontal direction from the battery compartment through the battery compartment opening, which exchange battery unit has in the vicinity of its side situated in the battery compartment nearest the battery compartment opening a lifting abutment, which is freely accessible from the battery compartment opening from below and which projects downwards, to be acted upon by the battery removal apparatus, wherein the battery removal apparatus comprises a mobile lifting device with vertically adjustable load-handling means.
A variety of different industrial trucks are known which are driven by electric motor and supplied with electric power from a battery unit, with a battery compartment containing the battery unit, which is accessible laterally for changing the battery.
Since a battery unit of the type under consideration here is of relatively great weight and relatively large volume, a battery removal apparatus is necessary for exchanging the battery unit. For cost reasons, this apparatus should as far as possible be a standard transport device, for example a tiller-steered fork-lift truck or possibly a forklift, with which the battery unit can be transported on fork arms. However, one problem here is that normally there is not enough space in the battery compartment on the underside of the battery unit to insert fork arms of such a transport device so as to accommodate the battery unit on the fork arms. Solutions are already known, in which the battery compartment floor is deeply recessed from the lateral access opening so that essentially only narrow floor side strips remain on which the battery unit rests. A battery unit of this type can then be simply engaged from below with fork arms of a fork-lift truck inserted under the industrial truck in alignment with such a recess and then raised by means of the fork arms and transported out of the battery compartment by withdrawing the fork-lift truck. Just as simply, with correspondingly reversed sequences of movement, a fork-lift truck can be used to insert a battery unit into the battery compartment with the battery compartment open. However, the relatively large recess in the battery compartment floor also entails a considerable weakening of the structural strength of the vehicle, which is indicated by distortion of the chassis during a battery unit exchange and when taking up heavy loads on load-carrying forks of the industrial truck and cannot be compensated for with simple means.
EP 2011761 A2 discloses an electric fork-lift truck with a laterally accessible battery compartment for battery exchange and a battery removal apparatus in the form of a fork-lift truck. In this known fork-lift truck, the battery compartment floor is not deeply recessed in the above-described disadvantageous manner. The battery unit, or a slide frame carrying the battery unit, has at its trailing or rear end when the battery unit is removed horizontally from the battery compartment, lower support rollers with which it is supported on the battery compartment floor in the battery compartment. At the end of the battery unit which, in the specified installation position of the battery unit in the battery compartment, is situated at the battery compartment opening, the battery unit or its slide frame has a lifting abutment in the form of a strip, which projects downwards beyond the free end of the battery compartment floor and which projects downwards beyond the underside of the battery compartment floor and extends in the longitudinal direction of the industrial truck. The battery unit or its slide frame is disposed directly on the battery compartment floor in the vicinity of its end situated at the battery compartment opening. To exchange the battery unit, for example a pedestrian-controlled fork-lift truck is pushed up to the battery compartment so that the load-carrying arms of the pedestrian-controlled fork-lift truck are guided under the battery compartment floor. Subsequently, the load-carrying arms are raised so that they act from below on the lifting abutment of the battery unit and during the continuation of the lifting movement they lift the battery unit at the end initially still situated at the battery compartment opening. Withdrawal of the pedestrian-controlled fork-lift truck then causes the battery unit, which rests with the lifting abutment on the load-carrying forks, to be removed from the battery compartment, whereupon it rolls on the battery compartment floor with its support rollers. As soon as the load-carrying forks have been withdrawn to such an extent that they no longer engage under the battery compartment floor, they can be raised further so as to take up completely the battery unit with its lifting frame, in which case securing abutments are overcome, which serve to prevent unintentional removal of the battery unit from the battery compartment during the lifting movement.